While the animals are asleep, zoos all over America come alive over the holiday period with dazzling light shows designed to captivate the young and the young at heart.

Zoo light displays can be one of the highlights of the festive season. For a growing number of families, a trip to the zoo to see the light display has become an essential part of their holiday tradition.

Each year zoos around America have teams working all year to come up with ideas to transform their zoo into a winter wonderland of light that will delight children and their parents.